E 

185 
.3 
C28 


1  AMERICA 


AN    ADDRESS 

Delivered  before  the  Philosophical  Institution 
of  Edinburgh,  16th  October  1007 


BY 

ANDREW    CARNEGIE,  Esq.,   LL.D. 


INVERNESS: 

R«?ht.  Curruthers  &  Sorts.  (Courier  Office. 


AN    ADDRESS 

Delivered  before  the  Philosophical  Institution 
of  Edinburgh,  16th  October  1907 


BY 


ANDREW    CARNEGIE,   Esq.,   LL.D. 


INVERNESS: 

Robt.  Carruthers  &  Sons,  Courier  Office. 


LOAN  STACK 


INVERNESS  : 
PRINTED  BY  ROUT.  CARRUTHERS  &  SONS,  COURIER  OFFICE. 


.3 


The  Negro  in  America. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN 

OF  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL  INSTITUTION, 

So  many  and  varied  have  been  the  subjects  treated 
by  my  predecessors  in  your  long  history,  that 
one  has  some  difficulty  in  selecting  a  theme.     I  escape 
this,  however,  by  breaking  fresh  ground  in  bringing 
to  your  attention  "  The  Negro  in  America." 

No  racial  movement  in  the  world  to-day  is  more 
interesting ;  few,  if  any,  are  more  important.  We 
here  deal  with  ten  millions  of  people — double  the 
population  of  Scotland — recently  not  men  but  slaves,— 
the  very  last  slaves  held  by  a  member  of  our  English- 
speaking  race, — who  were  not  only  suddenly  made  free 
men,  but  also  entrusted  with  the  ballot. 

Proud  is  the  boast, 

"  Slaves  cannot  breathe  in  Britain  !     If  their  lungs 
Receive  our  air,  that  moment  they  are  free. 
They  touch  our  country,  and  their  shackles  fall." 

But  where  the  poet-liberator  stops,  his  part  finisht, 
the  stateman's  work  only  begins.  The  shackles  fall, 
but  the  citizen  fails  to  emerge.  How  is  the  slave  to 
gain  self-control,  wisdom's  root,  when  all  his  days  he 
has  been  controlled  by  others?  "Arise  and  walk" 
was  once  said  to  the  lame,  but  a  miracle-worker  was 
required  to  effect  this  instant  cure.  It  is  the 


6 

necessarily  slow  development  of  the  slave  into  the 
citizen  which  I  propose  to  lay  before  you  to-night. 

In  one  respect  the  problem  is  unique.  The  negro 
is  called  upon  to  rise  in  the  scale  from  slavery  to 
citizenship  in  the  presence  of  a  civilization  represen 
tative  of  the  highest, — his  shortcomings,  backslidings, 
failures,  cannot  but  be  numerous  and  discouraging, 
and  the  contrasts  between  whites  and  blacks  in 
many  respects  such  as  to  produce  the  belief  in  the 
minds  of  their  former  masters  that  the  end  striven  for 
is  unattainable.  Once  a  slave,  always  a  slave,  so  far  as 
the  negro  race  is  concerned,  is  their  natural  conclusion. 

The  first  cargo  of  slaves,  twenty  in  number,  was 
landed  at  Jamestown,  Va.,  August  1619,  only  a  few 
years  after  the  original  Colonists  settled  at  Jamestown, 
and  one  year  before  the  Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth. 
When  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  signed  in 
1776,  there  were  already  five  hundred  and  two 
thousand  slaves  in  the  country.  The  Constitution, 
however,  forbade  their  importation,  and  it  was  natural 
increase  almost  alone,  therefore,  which  produced  in  the 
hundred  years,  1790  to  1890,  a  ten-fold  increase,  to 
seven  millions  and  a-half.  The  last  slaves  were 
smuggled  in  against  the  law  as  late  as  1858. 

Boston  had  become  the  chief  port  for  the  slave 
trade,  but  experience  proved  that  the  warmer  South, 
not  the  icy  North,  was  to  be  the  negro's  home.  They 
rapidly  gravitated  southward,  and  found  their  place 


in  the  cotton  fields.  Virginia,  under  the  influence  of 
Jefferson,  was  the  first  to  prohibit  the  importation  of 
slaves.  Slavery  was  abolish t  by  State  after  State  in  the 
North,  and  it  became  common  for  people  of  the  best 
element  in  the  border  States,  represented  by  Washing 
ton  and  his  circle,  to  manumit  their  slaves.  Needless 
to  say,  good  men  and  women  treated  them  well,  and 
were  often  repaid  by  loyal  and  even  intense  devotion, 
but,  if  it  were  to  continue,  the  relationship  demanded 
that  it  be  unlawful  to  teach  slaves  to  read.  Educa 
tion  is  moral  dynamite  which  invariably  explodes 
into  rebellion.  This  is  one  of  the  penalties  that 
we  of  the  English-speaking  race  have  to  pay 
for  our  well-meant  attempts  to  govern  what  are 
called  subject  races.  In  teaching  our  history,  we 
supply  them  with  the  most  deadly  explosives,  sure 
some  day  to  burst  and  rend  the  teacher.  We  "  teach 
bloody  instructions  which  return  to  plague  the  inven 
tors,"  unless  we  be  wise,  and  from  time  to  time  grant 
the  liberties  we  ourselves  extol  and  enjoy.  Intelli 
gence  forces  equal  rights  ;  hence  the  unrest  in  Egypt, 
India,  the  Philippines,  and  other  countries  under 
foreign  tutelage  is,  in  one  sense,  a  wholesome  sign  as 
proving  that  the  awakening  masses  are  stirred  to 
action  and  demand  recognition  as  fellow-citizens,  thus 
showing  that  our  teaching,  and  especially  our  example, 
have  had  their  inevitable  and,  let  us  never  forget, 
their  salutary  effect.  Let  it  never  be  said  that  our 


race  teaches  men  how  to  remain  slaves,  but  always 
how  they  can  become  freemen — not  that  they  should 
forget  their  own  country,  but  how  they  can  repeat, 
like  ourselves,  with  throbbing  heart, 

"  Breathes  there  a  man  with  soul  so  dead, 
"Who  never  to  himself  hath  said, 
*  This  is  my  own,  my  native  land.' " 

Only  so  can  the  mother  of  nations  be  proud  of  her 
children,  or  America  some  day  be  proud  of  the 
Philippines  to  which  she  has  just  given  a  Legislature. 
It  is,  at  first  thought,  remarkable  that  the  negro  in 
America  has  been  so  long-suffering.  There  never  was 
a  negro  conspiracy  nor  a  united  revolt.  Never  were 
national  troops  needed  to  repress  serious  outbreak. 
But  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  Southerner,  the 
master,  knew  better  than  to  teach  them  as  we  now 
teach  subject  races.  It  was  unlawful  to  teach 
the  slave  to  read.  Ignorance  is  the  only  possible 
foundation  upon  which  dominion  over  others  can 
rest.  When  I  talked  to  the  natives  of  India 
who  had  been  educated  in  your  schools  there,  and 
heard  from  them  how  Washington,  Cromwell,  Sidney, 
Pym,  Hampden  and  others  were  revered,  I  was  proud 
that  our  race  develops  men,  not  slaves.  As  Burke 
said — "  We  view  the  establishment  of  the  colonies  on 
principles  of  liberty,  as  that  which  is  to  render  this 
kingdom  venerable  in  future  ages  " — a  nobler  triumph 
than  all  Britain's  armies  and  fleets  ever  give.  This  is 
true  glory. 


9 

The  North  would  probably  have  acquiesced  in  the 
constitutional  recognition  of  slavery  in  the  original 
slave  States  so  long  as  each  citizen  felt  that  his  own 
State  was  free  from  the  guilt  and  curse,  and  it  might 
have  died  peacefully  as  with  you  in  the  West  Indies 
thru  compensation. 

You  may  remember  that  Lincoln  earnestly  favored 
this  policy.  When  he  met  the  Vice-President  and 
other  Confederate  officials  at  City  Point,  he  took  a 
sheet  of  paper  and  said — "  Gentlemen,  let  me  write 
here  at  the  top  '  Emancipation,'  and  you  may  fill  the 
rest  of  the  sheet  with  your  conditions."  Imagine 
what  would  have  been  saved  had  the  southern  leaders 
been  prepared  to  give  up  the  accursed  system — the 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  human  lives  sacrificed,  the 
enmities  aroused,  thousands  of  millions  of  dollars 
wasted.  So  it  is  with  brutal  war  which  always 
decides,  not  who  is  right,  but  only  who  is  strong. 

Population  from  North  and  South  began  to  pour 
into  the  western  territories.  Were  these  to  be 
u  slave "  or  "  free  ?"  This  was  the  issue ;  hence 
sprang  the  irrepressible  conflict.  The  South  claimed 
the  right  to  hold  slaves  anywhere  upon  common 
territory.  The  North  determined  that  not  one 
foot  of  territory  beyond  the  old  States,  where  the 
Constitution  recognized  slavery,  should  be  trodden  by 
a  slave.  The  same  spirit  that  stirred  Britain  and 
compelled  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  AVest  Indies 


10 

animated  the  North.  Slavery  became  the  accursed 
thing,  "  the  sum  of  all  villainies,"  and,  in  addition  to 
that,  it  was  not  good  Americanism.  Many  runaway 
slaves  crost  the  border,  pursued  by  officers,  who 
in  some  cases  were  accompanied  by  trained  dogs. 
Slaves  also  past  over  the  border  rivers  sometimes  on 
the  ice.  The  pursuers  were  not  accorded  enthusiastic 
welcome  in  the  North,  and  little  of  the  assistance 
which  the  law  required  was  given  in  the  chase.  The 
South  then  forced  a  fugitive  slave  law  thru  Congress. 
The  rival  parties,  Free-Soil  Northerners  and  Slave- 
holding  Southerners,  encountered  each  other  in  the 
Territories,  and  very  soon  the  whole  country  was  at 
fever  heat. 

When  the  North  was  required  by  law  to  assist  in 
capturing  men  flying  from  slavery  and  return  them  to 
it,  there  was  an  end  to  all  discussion.  Human 
slavery  at  last  became  a  moral  question.  Was  the 
Republic  to  be  a  Free  or  Slave  Power  ? — an  issue  only 
to  be  decided  by  the  most  gigantic  contest  of  modern 
times.  Into  this  the  slaves  were  drawn.  Lincoln 
with  a  stroke  of  the  pen  emancipated  them,  and  thus 
the  last  vestige  of  slavery  vanisht  from  the  civilized 
world.  The  rebellion  was  crush t,  and  so  far  all  was 
well,  but  as  the  colored  people  were  the  only  loyalists 
thruout  the  South  (with  certain  notable  white  excep 
tions),  and  had  served  surprizingly  well  in  the  Army,  the 
rash  step  was  taken  of  instantly  conferring  the  suffrage 


11 

upon  them.  It  was  a  choice  of  evils.  Only  thru  negroes 
was  the  general  government  enabled  to  maintain  its 
sovereignty  and  ensure  loyal  Congressional  representa 
tives,  thus  securing  Constitutional  Government  over 
the  South.  The  white  people  of  the  South,  intensely 
loyal  to  their  States  as  against  the  Government,  were 
infuriated  by  the  ascendency  of  their  former  slaves. 
No  situation  could  be  imagined  more  certain  than  this 
to  drive  further  apart  the  two  races,  and  to  embitter 
the  feelings  of  the  Southern  whites  against  the 
colored  allies  of  their  conquerors.  Such  was  the 
condition  in  America  at  the  close  of  the  war,  some 
forty  odd  years  ago. 

Here  we  have  between  four  and  five  millions  of 
slaves,  formerly  held  in  dense  ignorance,  unable  to 
read  or  write,  without  churches,  schools,  or  property 
of  any  kind,  and  yet  called  upon  to  perform  the 
duties  of  citizenship,  their  former  masters  surrounding 
them  incensed  at  their  elevation.  How  were  the 
negroes  recently  slaves  to  be  made  fit  as  citizens  ? 
—a  problem  that  might  appal  the  bravest.  Yet  this 
was  the  one  fundamental  requirement,  for  without 
improvement  of  the  black  race  no  satisfactory  solution 
was  possible. 

After  a  period  of  fifty  years  we  are  to-night  to 
enquire  whether  the  American  negro  has  proved  his 
capacity  to  develop  and  improve  :  this  I  propose  to 
answer  by  citing  facts. 


12 

The  first  question  the  ethnologist  will  naturally 
ask  is  :  —Has  he  proved  himself  able  to  live  in  contact 
with  civilization,  and  increase  as  a  freeman,  or  does 
he  slowly  die  out  like  the  American  Indian,  Maori  or 
Hawaiian  ?  The  Census  answers  that  the  total  num 
ber  of  negroes  in  America 

In  1880  was  6,580,793, 

In  1900,         8,840,789. 

Increase  in  twenty  years,  2,259,996,  equal  to  34*3 
per  cent,  almost  double  the  rate  of  increase  of  the 
United  Kingdom,  and  within  three  per  cent,  of  the 
increase  of  America,  white  and  black  combined. 
The  negro  race  numbers  to-day  about  ten  millions. 
It  does  not  increase  as  fast  as  the  white  in  America 
because  there  is  no  black  immigration  ;  taking  only 
native  whites  and  blacks,  their  relative  increase  must 
be  about  equal.  There  is  no  trace  of  decline  here,  but 
a  surprizingly  rapid  rate  of  increase,  one  of  the  surest 
proofs  of  a  virile  race  calculated  to  survive  in  the 
struggle  for  existence.  The  first  test,  therefore,  we 
may  consider  successfully  met. 

Now  for  the  second  : — Scotland's  proud  position 
among  nations  rests  chiefly  upon  the  realization  of  the 
famous  declaration  of  John  Knox,  "  I  will  never  rest 
until  there  is  a  Public  School  in  every  Parish  in  Scot 
land,"  which  finally  led  to  the  noble  enactment  which 
proclaims  that,  "no  father,  of  what  estate  or  condition 
that  ever  he  may  be,  use  his  children  at  his  own  fantasie, 
sepecially  in  their  childhood,  but  all  must  be  compelled 


13 

to  bring  up  their  children  in  learning  and  virtue."  You 
will  agree  with  me,  I  am  sure,  that  the  second  test  of 
capacity  to  reach  the  standard  of  citizenship  is  the 
passion  for  education,  the  desire  to  be  able  to  read, 
write  and  cypher.  Before  the  war  this  broad  avenue 
to  all  progress  was  closed  to  the  slave.  Let  us  see 
whether  he  has  taken  advantage  of  the  door  that 
opened  after  slavery  was  abolisht. 

The  censuses  of  1870  and  1900,  thirty  years 
apart,  compare  as  follows  as  to  illiteracy  of  the  negro 
males  of  voting  age  :— 

Total  Number.         Illiterate.        Per  cent. 
1870  1,032,475          862,243          83'5 

1900  2,060,302         976,610         47'4 

Thus  in  thirty  years  illiteracy  has  fallen  43  per  cent. 
At  same  rate  of  progress,  it  is  to-day  (1907)  not  one- 
half  as  great  as  in  1870. 

Of  the  first  1,032,000  of  people  in  1870,  862,000 
were  illiterate.  The  second  1,028,000  of  1900 
added  only  114,000,  nearly  eight  illiterates  in  the 
1870  males  of  voting  age  to  one  illiterate  in  the  second 
million  increase  up  to  1900. 

We  have  an  instructive  census  table  showing 
illiterates  in  the  colored  population  of  ten  years  of 
age  and  over  for  1880  and  1900  :— 

Total  Illiterates         Per  cent. 

1880         4,601,207         3,220,878         70'0 

1900       *6, 415, 581          2,853,194         44'5 

a   decrease   in    illiteracy   of  thirty-six   per   cent,    in 

twenty  years. 

*  Indians  included,  some  345,000. 


14 

While  illiteracy  among  the  negroes  is  being  rapidly 
reduced,  we  must  not  forget  an  equally  encouraging 
reduction  among  the  poor  whites,  a  class  that  was 
much  to  be  pitied  during  the  reign  of  slavery,  with 
the  contempt  for  honest  labor  that  followed  slavery 
as  its  shadow.  The  slave  master  performed  no  labor, 
and  was  as  a  rule  above  trade, — a  territorial  magnate 
fashioned  after  that  class  in  Britain.  The  poor  white 
aimed  at  that  standard  and  hence  declined  to  learn 
handicrafts.  A  small  piece  of  ground,  usually  rented, 
sufficed  to  keep  him  alive,  and  everything  approach 
ing  manual  labor  was  work  for  slaves.  Illiteracy 
prevailed  to  an  enormous  extent.  The  census  of 
1900,  however,  showed  that  the  South  had  reduced 
the  percentage  of  native  white  males  who  could  not 
read  and  write  to  sixteen  per  cent. 

In  considering  the  Southern  problem,  we  must 
never  forget  that  the  "  poor  whites  "  are  an  element 
complicating  the  situation,  the  attitude  of  this  class 
to  the  black  being  intensely  hostile — far  beyond  that 
of  the  educated  whites. 

There  was  no  public  school  system  in  any  Southern 
State  before  the  war ;  now  there  is  no  State  without 
one,  embracing  negro  as  well  as  white  schools. 

Since  1880,  negro  churches  have  contributed  for 
negro  education  $9,549,700,  almost  Two  Millions 
Sterling,  to  supplement  deficiences  of  the  State 
systems. 


15 

The  colored  Church  is  chiefly  composed  of 
Methodists  and  Baptists,  and  is  a  great  force  among  the 
negroes,  exercizing  commanding  influence.  Let  all 
doubters  of  the  future  of  the  negro  race  remember 
that  it  has  23,462  church  organisations  and  has  built 
23,770  churches,  with  a  seating  capacity  of  six 
millions  eight  hundred  thousand.  It  has  2,673,977 
communicants  out  of  ten  millions  population ;  few 
adult  negroes  are  outside  of  the  Church.  Their  Church 
property  is  valued  at  $26,626,448 — over  Five  and 
One-Half  Millions  sterling.  It  may  be  doubted 
whether  even  Scotland's  percentage  of  communicants 
reaches  that  of  the  whole  negro  race.  Many  of  the 
foremost  leaders  of  the  negro  people  are  to  be  found 
among  their  churchmen.  They  have  been  especially 
fortunate  in  their  Bishops  who  are  elected,  not 
appointed,  and  are  active,  progressive  men. 

In  1860,  negro  schools  were  unknown,  it  being 
unlawful  to  teach  the  slave.  In  the  year  1900, 
1,096,734  colored  youths  attended  public  school,  and 
17,138  attended  higher  schools  of  learning.  The 
warfare  against  ignorance  goes  on  apace  among  both 
whites  and  blacks.  For  twenty  years  after  the  war 
progress  in  providing  negro  schools  by  the  States  was 
very  slow,  but  since  1880  there  has  been  spent  by 
the  States  in  their  support,  $105,807,930— about 
Twenty-five  Millions  Sterling.  In  addition  to  this, 
all  over  the  South  the  negro  is  providing  additional 


16 

school  buildings  and  extending  the  term  for  keeping 
them  open  each  year  beyond  that  fixt  by  the  States, 
the  additional  cost  thereof  being  defrayed  by  the 
negroes. 

The  strong  religious  tendency  which  characterizes 
the  negro  finds  vent  in  Young  Men's  Christian 
Associations.  Three  men  are  employed  by  the 
National  Committee,  who  devote  themselves  ex 
clusively  to  their  foundation  and  control.  Thirty- 
seven  associations  already  exist  in  the  principal  cities. 
Twenty-three  paid  secretaries  give  their  entire  time 
to  the  work,  which  is  extending  rapidly. 

In  seven  States — Delaware,  Arkansas,  South  Caro 
lina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi  and  Louisiana — the 

Cost  of  Negro  Common  Schools  in 

1900  was  -  $1,345,859. 

Whereas  Negroes  contributed  -     1,496,036. 

"  Excepting  a  few  city  systems,  it  can  be  said  that 
apparently  negroes  in  the  South  contributed  to  their 
schools  in  1899,  $3,762,617  out  of  a  total  cost  of 
$4,675,504,  leaving  but  $912,887  to  be  paid  by  the 
whites." 

There  are  now  in  the  country  136  Colleges  and 
"  Industrial  Schools  "  exclusively  for  the  education  of 
negroes,  apart  from  the  Public  Schools. 

It  will  be  many  years  before  this  immense  and 
sparsely  populated  region  known  as  The  South  can 


17 

boast  that  Knox's  scheme  is  completed  ;  but  at  the 
present  rate  of  progress  this  century  apparently  will 
not  close  upon  a  "  Parish  "  minus  its  public  school. 

Such  is  the  gratifying  evidence  that  the  negro 
race  shares  with  the  Scotch  the  passion  for  education. 

We  now  come  to  the  third  vital  test  of  a  race, 
only  less  important  than  the  other  two.  We  have 
seen  that  the  negro  is  rapidly  becoming  a  reading  and 
writing  man  ;  permit  me  to  give  some  facts  proving 
that  he  is  also  becoming  a  saving  man. 

Surely  no  better  proof  can  be  given  of  his  desire 
and  ability  to  rise  and  become  a  respectable  member 
of  society  than  the  production  of  a  bank-book  with  a 
good  balance,  or,  better  still,  the  title  to  a  farm  or  a 
home  free  of  debt.  The  saving  man  is  par  excellence 
the  model  citizen — peaceable,  sober,  industrious  and 
frugal.  The  magic  of  property  works  wonders 
indeed,  and  pray  remember  once  more  that  only 
forty-three  years  ago  he,  a  slave,  the  property  of  a 
master,  found  himself  suddenly  and  without  warning 
his  own  master,  face  to  fp'e  with  duties  to  which  he 
was  wholly  a  strar0er — self-support,  self-direction 
and  self-control.  '  ^e  care  of  wife  and  children,  wage- 
earning  anr1  One  expenditure  of  wages,  the  duties 
of  citizenship,  including  the  right  of  voting, 
all  thrust  upon  him  who  had  been  until  that  hour 
possest  of  nothing,  not  even  of  himself,  without  home, 
school,  church,  or  any  of  the  elements  of  civilized 


18 

life.  The  horse  or  cow  fed  in  its  stall  and  worked  on 
the  estate  had  scarcely  less  to  do  with  providing  for 
itself  than  the  general  field  slave.  Only  the  few  house 
hold  servants  and  craftsmen  were  of  a  much  higher  class. 

Has  the  negro  shown  the  ambition  and  the  ability 
to  save  and  own  his  home  or  his  farm  ?  Does  he 
take  to  the  land,  and  is  he  making  a  successful  farmer 
and  landlord  ?  These  are  vital  points  bearing  upon 
his  future.  Let  us  examine  the  record. 

In  1.900  no  less  than  746,717  farms,  38,233,933 
acres,  59,741  square  miles,  just  the  area  of  England 
and  Wales,  or  double  that  of  Scotland,  were  owned  or 
tenanted  by  negroes,  who  forty  years  previously 
owned  nothing.  These  embraced,  in  the  Southern 
Central  States,  27*2  per  cent,  of  all  the  farms;  in  the 
South  Atlantic  States,  30  per  cent.;  in  the  Southern 
States — Florida  33  per  cent.,  Georgia  39*9  per  cent., 
Alabama  42  per  cent.,  Louisiana  50 '2  per  cent.,  and 
Mississippi  55  per  cent.  The  negro  has  more  farms 
than  the  whites  in  the  last  two  States,  but  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  average  size  of  negro  farms  is 
very  much  less  than  those  of  the  whites. 

The  figures  just  quoted  include  farms  owned  or 
tenanted  by  negroes,  i.e.,  they  were  either  land 
lords  or  farmers.  When  we  come  to  farms  in  the 
hands  of  owners  we  find  that  in  the  twelve  Southern 
States  negro  landlords  in  1900  owned  173,352  farms, 
and  the  aggregate  wealth  of  negroes  was  estimated  at 
$300,000,000. 


19 

The  race  that  owned  not  an  acre  of  land  forty 
years  ago  is  now  possessor  as  landlords  of  an  area 
larger  than  Belgium  and  Holland  combined,  and 
rapidly  increasing.  The  negroes  have  the  land 
hunger,  one  of  the  best  qualities,  and  they  are 
entering  freely  into  the  landlord  class,  a  statement 
which  perhaps  may  be  calculated  to  arouse  your 
sympathy  in  Scotland,  but  when  the  owner  is  land 
lord,  factor,  farmer,  and  worker  all  combined,  and 
really  does  a  hard  day's  work,  dividends  appear. 

The  white  American  landlord,  factor,  farmer  and 
worker,  all  in  one,  is  the  backbone  of  the  body 
politic,  always  conservative  as  against  revolutionary 
projects,  but  moving  ahead  with  the  times,  intelli 
gent,  fair-minded,  exceedingly  well-behaved,  a  kindly 
neighbor  and  model  citizen.  They  exceed  five 
millions  in  number.  The  negro  landlord  may  be 
trusted  to  develop  into  the  likeness  of  his  white 
compeer  and  draw  his  race  upward  after  him  in  due 
time. 

Virginia  is  the  foremost  Southern  State.  She 
has  one  hundred  counties.  In  thirty-three  counties 
eighty  per  cent,  of  the  negro  farmers  own  and 
manage  their  land ;  in  fifty,  seventy  per  cent,  do  so  ; 
and  only  nineteen  counties  have  more  white  than 
negro  farmers. 

In  1  898,  negroes  in  Virginia  owned  978,118  acres  ; 
in  1903,  1,304,471  acres,  a  gain  by  negro  landlords 
in  five  years  of  326,353  acres. 


20 

The  total  business  capital  of  negroes  in  Virginia 
in  1889  was  $5,691,137  ;  in  1899,  $8,784,637. 
Seventy-nine  per  cent,  of  them  had  less  than  $2500 
each  (£500),  so  that  a  great  number  use  their  own 
funds. 

Georgia  is  one  of  the  most  prosperous  of  the 
Southern  States. 

Land  owned  by  negroes — 

Acres.  Value. 

1900 1,075,073          $4,274,549 

1901 1,141,135  4,656,042 

showing  70,000  acres  added  in  one  year.  The  assest 
value  (the  actual  value  being  double)  of  all  property 
owned  by  negroes  in  the  State  was — 

In  1900          $14,118,720 

1901          15,629,181 

an  increase  of  a  Million  and  a  Half  of  Dollars,  or 
nearly  eleven  per  cent.,  in  one  year. 

The  negro  has  often  been  described  as  lazy  and 
indolent,  yet  the  census  shows  that  in  the  South  84'1 
per  cent,  of  colored  males  and  40*7  per  cent,  of  females 
over  10  years  are  engaged  in  gainful  occupations, 
while  of  the  white  population  of  the  country  the 
percentage  is  79*5,  and  only  16  per  cent,  of  females. 
The  negro  is  chiefly  employed  in  agriculture.  The 
census  of  1900  shows  1,344,125  agricultural  laborers 
and  757,822  farmers,  planters  and  overseers.  The 
impression  of  laziness  probably  arises  from  climate. 


21 

The  negro  does  not,  nor  does  any  race,  work  as  hard 
in  the  sunny  south  as  in  colder  climates.  There  is 
another  point  not  to  be  lost  sight  of — how  a  man 
works  as  a  slave  or  servant  for  a  master  does  not 
prove  how  lie  will  work  as  a  freeman  for  himself. 

The  negro  agriculturists,  as  has  been  seen,  are 
rapidly  becoming  landlords.  Those  residing  in  cities 
show  similar  ambition  to  acquire  real  estate.  Jackson, 
Mississippi,  for  instance,  is  owned  to  the  extent  of 
one-seventh  by  negroes,  who  have  Two  and  a  Half 
Millions  of  Dollars  worth  of  taxable  property.  A  state 
ment  is  given  for  Richmond,  Va.,  showing  that  there 
as  elsewhere  negroes  are  engaged  in  every  occupation 
and  profession — ten  Lawyers,  thirty  Ministers,  three 
Dentists,  ten  Physicians,  two  Photographers,  School 
Masters,  Real  Estate  Dealers,  Merchant  Tailors, 
Jewelers,  thirty-five  Dressmakers,  four  Savings  Banks, 
four  Newspapers  (Weekly),  four  Restaurant-keepers, 
sixteen  Stenographers.  Every  field  of  human  activity 
is  represented.  The  first  Physician  in  Richmond 
to  use  a  motor-car  was  a  negro.  The  resources  of 
the  First  Colored  People's  Bank  are  reported  at 
$555,288  (£115,000).  There  are  thirty-two  negro 
banks  in  the  country.  Building  and  Loan  Associa 
tions  and  Insurance  Companies  are  not  overlook t ; 
several  have  been  organized  and  are  being  success 
fully  conducted  by  negroes  in  various  cities.  There 
are  in  the  United  States  1734  Negro  Physicians  and 


22 

Surgeons,  and  125  Drug  Stores  owned  by  negroes. 
Not  only  are  all  professions  filled  by  negroes  ;  the 
Patent  Office  in  Washington  shows  four  hundred 
inventions  patented  by  them. 

The  desire  to  own  a  home  is  one  of  the  most 
encouraging  of  all  traits  in  the  masses  of  a  nation. 
In  1865  the  negroes  were  without  homes  of  their 
own.  In  1900,  thirty-five  years  later,  there  were 
372,414  owners  of  homes,  and  of  these  225,156  were 
free  of  encumbrance. 

Home  is  the  cradle  of  the  virtues.  Man  is  not 
quite  up  to  the  standard  until  he  can  say  proudly  to 
himself  "  This  is  my  own,  my  precious  home,"  and 
if  he  be  able  to  add  "  and  all  paid  for,"  so  much  the 
better.  He  has  given  the  best  proof  possible  of  his 
good  citizenship.  This  is  our  bulwark  in  America 
against  revolutionary  or  socialistic  ideas.  So  many 
millions  own  their  homes  that  they  control  political 
action.  The  right  of  private  property  is  sacred.  In 
dividualism  rules  in  the  Republic. 

The  negro  has  not  overlookt  the  Press  as  an 
essential  element  of  modern  progress.  Several  attempts 
were  made  to  establish  newspapers  previous  to  1847. 
In  later  years,  however,  many  have  become  successful. 
The  newspaper  directory  for  1905  gives  140  publica 
tions  of  every  class  publisht  by  negroes,  but  it  is  said 
to  be  incomplete.  There  are  six  negro  magazines,  two 
of  these  quarterly,  denominational  publications,  four 


23 

being  monthly  and  undenominational.  Most  of  the 
newspapers  are  devoted  to  local  affairs  and  of  little 
general  interest,  but  some  twenty-five  publisht  by 
negroes  in  different  sections  of  the  country  are  said  to 
be  really  creditable  to  the  profession  of  Journalism. 

The  negro  has  not  failed  to  make  his  appearance  in 
literature.  Booker  Washington's  "  Up  from  Slavery  " 
needs  no  comment.  Professor  DuBois's  "  The  Souls 
of  Black  Folk  "  has  attracted  much  attention.  Charles 
"W.  Chesnutt's  several  books,  bearing  upon  the  color  line 
are  notable.  Dunday,  the  negro  poet,  is  extensively 
read.  Thomas  Fortune,  editor  of  the  New  York  Age, 
the  most  successful  negro  editor,  has  written  two  in 
teresting  books,  "  The  Negro  in  Politics,"  and  "  Black 
and  White,"  has  also  publisht  a  volume  of  poems  and 
has  been  prominent  in  all  efforts  to  elevate  his  race^ 
Dunbar,  the  poet,  called  the  Burns  of  his  race,  who 
has  recently  passed  away,  was  brought  to  the 
attention  of  the  public  by  Howells.  A  new  negro 
poet  who  has  recently  claimed  recognition  is  Mr 
Braithwaite.  Mr  Tanner,  the  negro  artist,  has 
recently  won  the  Gold  Medal  at  Paris,  and  is  now  re 
presented  in  the  Luxembourg.  A  negro  student  at 
Harvard  University  this  year  won  the  Rhodes 
Scholarship  against  fifty-six  white  competitors. 

It  is  true  that  many  of  these  and  other  con 
spicuous  negroes  have  white  blood  in  their  veins,  but 
as  they  remain  negroes  and  labor  for  and  with  their 


24 

people,  this  makes  no  difference  whatever.  We  are 
ourselves  fortunately  a  very  mixed  race.  The  point 
is  not  what  the  mixture  but  what  the  product  is  ; 
and  so  in  estimating  the  negro  race  and  its  probable 
future  we  must  take  it  as  it  is.  The  presence  of 
white  blood  is  one  of  the  elements  of  the  case, 

Benjamin  Banneker,  the  astronomer,  and  friend  of 
Jefferson,  was  a  pure  negro.  So  is  J.  G.  Groves,  the 
negro  "  Potato  King "  of  to-day,  so-called  from  his 
having  grown  in  the  State  of  Kansas  72,150  bushels 
of  that  indispensable  article,  an  average  of  245 
bushels  to  the  acre,  which  is  claimed  to  break  all 
records.  He  is  one  of  the  coming  negro  millionaires, 
and  was  born  of  negro  parents  in  slavery.  He  already 
owns  five  farms.  Alfred  Smith,  the  "Cotton  King" 
of  Georgia,  is  another  typical  instance  of  negro 
ability ;  when  Sherman  marched  thru  Georgia  he 
was  a  hotel  porter,  and  had  managed  to  save  $2000 
(£400).  He  emigrated  early  to  Oklahoma  and  took 
up  a  "  claim,"  and  began  taking  premiums  for  the 
best  cotton.  In  1900  he  received  first  prize  at  the 
World's  Fair.  Another  millionaire  in  embryo. 

Mr  Jackson  is  another.  He  has  a  reputation  all 
over  Georgia.  He  has  for  the  past  ten  years  brought 
the  first  bale  of  cotton  to  market,  owns  two  thousand 
acres,  employs  one  hundred  men,  and  has  forty- 
six  mules  and  horses.  Another  negro,  Mr  Johnson, 
of  Virginia,  is  one  of  the  most  successful  exporters  of 


25 

walnut.  At  present  he  has  three  properties.  He 
also  is  making  a  fortune  rapidly.  Mr  Montgomery,  a 
slave  until  emancipated  by  Lincoln,  was  offered  a 
bayou  in  Mississippi  by  the  Railroad  Co.  provided  he 
succeeded  in  founding  a  negro  town,  as  white  people 
could  not  live  there.  He  succeeded,  and  is  now  at 
the  head  of  about  twro  thousand  people,  president  of  a 
bank,  and  his  town  is  attracting  attention.  He  is  no 
ordinary  man,  having  been  elected  to  the  State  Con 
stitutional  Convention.  (See  "World's  Work"  for 
June.) 

These  and  other  examples  show  that,  like  other 
races  that  have  risen,  our  own  included,  the  negro  is 
capable  of  producing  at  intervals  the  exceptional  man 
who  stimulates  his  fellows.  The  race  that  produces 
leaders  is  safe  and  certain  to  develop.  If  a  race  bring 
forth  at  intervals  a  Wallace  and  a  Bruce,  a  Kriox  and 
a  Buchanan,  a  Burns  and  a  Scott,  a  Hume  and  an 
Adam  Smith,  a  Carlyle  and  a  Mill,  a  Watt  and  a 
Nielson,  the  result  must  be  an  advanced  people. 
Every  leader  compels  a  following,  which  improves  his 
race.  Even  the  humbler  men  in  the  South  whom 
I  have  mentioned  as  developing  natural  resources^ 
and  making  money  in  so  doing,  are  in  a  sense  also 
leaders  among  their  people,  and  raise  the  standard  of 
life  in  greater  or  less  degree  of  those  about  them. 

While  the  North  has  been  for  five  years,  and  is 
still,  enjoying  the  longest  and  greatest  uninteirupted 


26 

period  of  material  prosperity  ever  known,  and  has  had 
several  shorter  periods  of  similar  character  since  the 
war,  the  South  has  only  rallied  from  its  lethargy 
within  the  past  few  years.  It  is  now  partaking  of  the 
boom,  and  prices  of  land,  city  lots,  and  all  kinds  of 
property  have  advanced  ;  a  scarcity  of  labor  exists, 
and  Committees  are  being  formed  to  induce  organized 
immigration  from  Europe  fco  Southern  ports.  Italian 
colonies  are  being  planted  in  various  localities. 

Wealth  is  often  under-rated  in  both  countries.  It 
is  upon  the  foundation  of  material  prosperity  that  the 
South  is  now  building  more  churches  and  school- 
houses,  industrial  and  medical  colleges,  and  the 
people  spending  more  upon  education.  Without  this 
new  wealth  there  would  be  less  surplus  to  apply  to 
the  higher  ends.  The  dress  of  the  people,  and  the 
homes  and  modes  of  life  are  changing  rapidly  for  the 
better  thru  the  entire  South.  Philanthropists  laboring 
among  the  negroes  concur  in  testifying  that  nothing 
stirs  their  ambition  and  drives  them  to  honest,  unre 
mitting  labour,  and  to  educate  themselves,  like  the 
magical  touch  of  property,  something  they  can  call 
their  own.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  there  be 
any  guarantee  for  the  production  of  desirable  citizens, 
equal  to  the  possession  of  their  own  sweet  little  homes. 
A  man  thus  most  surely  gives  a  bond  to  fate,  and 
makes  assurance  of  good  citizenship  doubly  sure. 


27 

Permit  me  to  give  you  a  few  figures  showing  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  South.  Before  the  war  there 
was  not  a  yard  of  cotton  cloth  manufactured  there. 
Last  year  there  were  added  794,034  spindles  and 
9871  looms  in  her  cotton  factories.  Most  surprizing 
fact  of  all,  there  were  more  yards  of  cloth  woven  in 
the  South  in  1906  than  in  the  North,  altho  pro 
duction  in  the  North  also  slightly  increased.  This 
manufacture,  hitherto  mostly  concentrated  in  the  New 
England  States,  is  being  rapidly  extended  in  the  South 
where  the  cotton  is  grown.  Now  that  labor  is  be 
coming  honorable  since  slavery  died,  the  poor  whites 
are  flocking  to  the  cotton  mills  and  various  other 
factories  now  being  establisht,  and  proving  them 
selves  capable  operatives.  Testimony  has  just  been 
given  that  one-third  more  labor  is  required  in  the 
cotton  mills,  but  the  white  element,  partly  immigrants, 
may  be  depended  upon  soon  to  supply  this.  Last 
year  there  were  more  than  three  thousand  miles  of 
railway  built  in  the  Southern  States,  and  eighty-four 
million  tons  of  coal  mined.  The  yearly  cotton  crop 
exceeds  eleven  millions  of  bales.  In  1850  it  was  only 
two  and  a  quarter  millions.  It  must  be  steadily 
increased  to  meet  the  world's  needs.  In  short,  the 
hitherto  impoverisht  South  is  sharing  the  unprece 
dented  boom  which  has  prevailed  in  the  North  for 
some  years.  The  question  used  sometimes  to  be 
asked  in  former  days — what  could  be  done  with  the 


28 

negro  ?  The  question  to-day  is,  how  more  of  them 
and  of  other  Avorkers  can  be  obtained.  The  negro 
has  become  of  immense  economic  value  and  is  indis 
pensable  where  he  is. 

Touching  the  good  qualities  of  the  negro,  he  has 
much  to  his  credit.  During  the  civil  war  his  devotion 
to  good  masters  and  mistresses  was  touching.  They 
were  left  at  home  while  their  masters,  almost  to  a 
man,  joined  the  Southern  army.  It  was  the  excep 
tion  when  slaves  upon  an  estate  were  cruelly  treated, 
and  the  relations  between  white  and  black  were 
surprizingly  free  from  bitterness.  This  does  not 
mean  that  the  slaves  did  not  hail  Lincoln's  proclama 
tion  with  joy,  but  it  does  prove  that  as  a  class  the 
American  negro  is  of  happy  disposition,  placable, 
affectionate,  singularly  free  from  promptings  to  com 
mit  secret  crimes,  most  grateful  and  responsive  to 
kindness.  There  is  nothing  of  the  plotting  assassin 
in  him. 

We  are  staggered  now  and  then  by  assaults  of  the 
lowest  and  most  brutal  negroes  upon  white  women 
in  the  less  settled  States.  It  is  stated  that  in  Virginia, 
Maryland,  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  which  have  large 
negro  populations,  there  are  neither  rapes  nor  lynch- 
in  gs.  Every  case  of  this  kind  is  given  widest  publicity, 
and  naturally  arouses  the  strongest  passions.  These 
outrages  are  committed  in  lonely  districts  where 
policemen  are  unknown.  There  may  be  neither 


29 

Provost,  Judge,  Court,  Jail,  nor  Officer  of  the 
Law  within  a  clay's  journey.  The  guilty  fiend  is 
captured  by  the  residents,  tried,  and  hung  to  the 
nearest  tree.  Every  man  and  woman  is  aroused  and 
mad  for  instant  and  sweeping  punishment.  Some 
times  there  are  officials  near  who  insist  upon  the 
wretch  being  imprisoned  and  duly  tried  months 
hence,  but  the  maddened  friends  of  the  outraged 
victim  are  in  no  mood  for  parleying,  and  he  is  hung 
instanter.  It  is  easy  for  those  thousands  of  miles 
away,  surrounded  by  all  the  machinery  ready  to 
punish  crime,  to  preach  patience  with  and  obedience 
to  all  forms  of  the  law's  delay,  but  were  we  present, 
and  the  victim  in  the  hands  of  the  incensed  neighbors,  it 
may  be  doubted  whether  we  could  preserve  the  judicial 
spirit  needed  to  preach  patience.  "Judge"  Lynch  is 
rarely,  if  ever,  accused  of  punishing  the  innocent — un 
due  haste  or  excessive  "  efficiency"  is  his  fault.  The 
number  who  suffer,  not  from  injustice  but  undue 
haste,  is  not  great.  As  the  population  becomes  denser 
and  the  negroes  better  educated,  these  brutal  attacks 
may  be  expected  to  cease.  They  are  steadily  de 
creasing.  In  1885,  181  assaults  were  made  ;  in 
1906  only  72,  less  than  half,  altho  population  had 
increased  about  one-third. 

It  is  this  crime  only  and  the  excessive  publicity 
it  invariably  attracts  that  creates  the  false  impression 
that  the  negro  as  a  class  is  lawless,  while  the  contrary 
is  true. 


30 

The  remaining  vital  negro  political  question  is 
that  of  the  suffrage.  The  National  Constitution  pro 
vides  that  no  State  shall  discriminate  on  account  of 
color.  Many  of  the  Southern  States  now  require 
ability  to  read  and  write,  which  applies  to  whites 
as  well  as  blacks.  The  best  people,  both  North 
and  South,  approve  this  educational  test.  One 
good  effect  is  that  it  gives  illiterates,  both  white 
and  black,  a  strong  inducement  to  educate  them 
selves.  One  cannot  fail  to  sympathize  with  the 
educated  element  in  communities  mostly  composed 
of  illiterates,  who  outvote  the  intelligent.  A  few 
illiterates  in  an  electoral  district  of  the  North,  or  here 
in  Britain,  matters  little,  but  where  these  are  in  the 
majority  it  is  an  entirely  different  matter.  The 
solution  of  the  suffrage  question  probably  lies  thru 
this  educational  test.  When  negroes  generally  are 
able  to  meet  this,  we  may  assume  that  their  entrance 
into  political  life  in  due  course  will  not  be  keenly 
resented.  As  Confucius  long  since  told  us — "  There 
being  education,  there  can  be  no  distinction  of 
classes." 

Booker  Washington's  influence  is  powerfully 
exerted  to  keep  the  negroes  from  placing  suffrage 
in  the  front.  He  contends  that  good  moral  character 
and  industrial  efficiency,  resulting  in  ownership  of 
property,  are  the  pressing  needs  and  the  sure  and 
speedy  path  to  recognition  and  enfranchisement.  A 


31 

few  able  negroes  are  disposed  to  press  for  the  free  and 
unrestricted  vote  immediately.  We  cannot  but  hope 
that  the  wiser  policy  will  prevail. 

You  may  be  wondering  how  this  transformation 
from  slave  to  citizen,  so  far  as  it  has  gone,  has  been 
accomplish  t. 

The  education  of  the  negro  began  in  earnest  thru 
the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  establisht  by  Act  of  Congress 
in  1865,  a  few  years  after  the  war.  General  Howard, 
who  was  placed  in  command,  proved  most  successful, 
head  and  heart  being  interested  in  the  cause.  At  the 
end  of  five  years,  when  it  was  thought  no  longer 
necessary  because  of  the  general  interest  awakened, 
its  record  showed  that  4239  schools  for  colored  pupils 
had  been  establisht  in  the  South,  with  9307  teachers 
and  247,333  pupils,  the  Bureau  having  taught  nearly 
one  million  black  children  to  read  and  write  ;  the  cost 
to  the  General  Government  had  been  Six  and  a  Half 
Million  Dollars. 

Upon  the  scene,  now  appeared  one  of  those  rare 
leaders  who  seem  designed  for  new  and  difficult  tasks, 
impossible  for  ordinary  men — nothing  short  of  an 
original  holds  the  key.  Such  a  man  was  revealed  in 
a  young  enthusiast  who,  born  of  an  American 
Missionary  family  in  Hawaii,  became  General  Arm 
strong.  Shortly  after  he  graduated  at  Williams 
College  in  Massachusetts,  came  Lincoln's  call  for  volun 
teers  to  save  the  Union.  To  this  young  Armstrong 


32 

promptly  responded.  He  put  up  a  tent  in  the  Public 
Park  at  Troy,  and  asked  for  recruits  to  form  a 
company,  who  soon  came  to  the  bright,  young  would- 
be  captain,  and  off  he  went  to  the  front  at  their  head. 
He  writes  to  his  mother — "  The  first  day  of  Ja.nuary 
is  at  hand  when  the  slaves  shall  be  free  ;  then  I  shall 
know  that  I  am  contending  for  freedom  and  for  the 
oppressed.  I  shall  then  be  willing  and  less  grieved 
if  I  fall  for  such  a  cause."  Here  we  have  the  spirit 
of  the  Crusader.  He  soon  distinguisht  himself,  and 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Major.  Tho  his  com 
mand  had  hitherto  been  over  white  troops,  at  his 
request  he  was  made  Colonel  of  the  first  negro 
regiment,  and  here  his  genius  had  scope.  He  wrote 
his  mother  upon  taking  command — "The  star  of  Africa 
is  rising.  Her  millions  now  for  the  first  time  catch 
glimpse  of  a  glorious  dawn,  and  their  future,  in  my 
opinion,  rests  largely  upon  the  success  of  the  negro 
troops  in  this  war.  Their  honour  and  glory  will 
insure  the  freedom  of  their  race."  The  regiment  soon 
made  a  mark  for  itself.  One  officer  reported  that 
"  Armstrong's  soldiers  felt  toward  him  a  regard  that 
amounted  almost  to  deification."  He  was  soon  made 
a  General.  When  the  Freedman's  Bureau  was  created 
at  the  close  of  the  war,  General  Howard  gave  com 
mand  of  the  Virginia  District  to  Armstrong,  who 
finally  determined  to  devote  his  life  to  the  elevation 
of  the  negro  race.  He  wrote  to  his  mother — "  Till 


33 

now  my  future  has  been  blind."  He  soon  decided  to 
establish  a  pioneer  school  to  teach  both  sexes  "  manual 
labor  as  a  moral  force,"  and  Hampton  Institute  ap 
peared,  pioneer  of  all  succeeding  negro  colleges. 
Under  the  slave  regime,  manual  labor  had  been 

v  held  as  fit  only  for  slaves,  and  naturally  the  enfran 
chised  negroes  lookt  upon  idleness  as  the  only  real 

,  reward  of  life.  They  had  now  to  learn  that  useful 
labor  was  the  duty  of  man  and  his  title  to  honor. 
Armstrong  succeeded  in  interesting  a  number  of 
excellent  people  in  the  North,  and,  after  over 
coming  innumerable  obstacles,  he  finally  triumphed. 
He  had  rare  power  of  attracting  others  and  en 
thusing  them  with  his  own  desire  to  labor  for 
the  negro.  Many  New  England  teachers,  espe 
cially  women,  went  to  Hampton  and  led  lives  of 
devotion  to  the  holy  cause  of  uplifting  the  former 
slave.  No  less  than  Fifteen  Million  of  Dollars  (Three 
Millions  Stg.)  have  been  contributed  by  Northern 
people  for  this  purpose. 

Among  General  Armstrong's  private  papers  after 
his  death  this  paragraph  was  found,  giving  what  he 
"  would  wish  known  were  he  suddenly  .to  die." 

"  In  the  school  the  great  thing  is  not  to  quarrel, 
and  to  get  rid  of  workers  whose  temperaments  are 
unfortunate  no  matter  how  much  knowledge  or  culture 
they  may  have.  Cantankerousness  is  worse  than 
heterodoxy." 


34 

He  wisht  to  be  buried  in  the  College  grave-yard 
fcmong  bis  colored  students,  "  where  one  of  them 
would  have  been  had  he  died  next.  No  monument 
3r  fuss  whatever  over  my  grave.  I  wish  the  sim 
plest  funeral  service  without  sermon  or  attempt  at 
oratory.'' 

Booker  Washington,  who  was  a  pupil  under  him 
and  enjoyed  his  friendship  thru  life,  says  he  was  "  the 
noblest,  rarest  human  being  that  it  has  ever  been  my 
privilege  to  meet.  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  I 
never  met  any  great  man  who  in  my  estimation  was 
his  equal.  The  first  time  I  went  into  his  presence  as 
a  student,  he  made  the  impression  upon  me  as  being 
a  perfect  man,  and  I  felt  there  was  something  about 
him  superhuman,  and  until  he  died  the  more  I  saw 
of  him  the  greater  he  grew/' 

He  is  not  alone  in  this  estimate.  Many  who  knew 
Armstrong  endorse  it.  His  life,  recently  publisht, 
reveals  him  to  us.  So  far  as  we  can  judge,  no  nobler, 
more  useful,  or  more  self-sacrificing  life  was  ever 
lived.  I  think  his  life  would  interest  you  deeply. 

The  students  of  Hampton,  of  both  sexes,  were  first 
taught  how  to  take  care  of  their  bodies  and  how  to 
conduct  themselves.  A  high  standard  of  cleanliness 
and  neatness  was  establish t  and  rigidly  enforced. 
Then  came  instruction  in  some  craft,  the  women  being 
taught  domestic  duties.  The  making  of  useful  sale 
able  articles  was  the  aim,  and  from  these  came  the 


35 

funds  needed  to  pay  a  large  part  of  the  cost  of  educ 
tion.  All  work  was  paid  for. 

Hampton  traces  twenty-five  educational  institu 
tions  as  its  outgrowths.  Between  six  and  seve.i 
thousand  of  her  graduates  and  ex-students  an; 
scattered  thruout  the  South  teaching  in  various 
branches,  305  in  business  or  clerical  work,  and  176 
graduates  pursuing  higher  courses.  The  high  standard 
General  Armstrong  introduced  is  fully  sustained  by 
his  worthy,  self-sacrificing  successor,  Mr  Frissell,  a 
Scottish  Fraser,  and  his  invaluable  wife,  equally 
devoted  to  the  cause. 

Josiah  King,  of  Pittsburgh,  as  trustee  of  the  fund 
of  another  citizen,  Mr  A  very,  who  left  his  fortune 
for  the  benefit  of  the  negro  race,  gave  the  needed 
financial  assistance  which  enabled  General  Armstrong 
to  carry  out  his  project  of  founding  Hampton.  I 
rejoice  that  Pittsburgh  money  found  a  mission  so 
noble,  and  that  I  knew  in  my  boyhood  both  Testator 
and  Trustee.  Strange  to  say,  the  small  farm  of  159 
acres,  bought  for  the  Hampton  Institute,  bore  the 
captivating  name  of  "  Little  Scotland."  Somewhere 
not  far  away  there  no  doubt  rests  one  unknow  ton 
fame  of  whom  it  can  be  said  "  A  kindly  Scot  lies 
here." 

Among  the  Hampton  graduates  the  most  dis- 
tinguisht  is  Booker  Washington,  the  founder  of 
Tuskegee  Institute,  Alabama,  which  I  had  the 


36 

pleasure  of  visiting  last  year  for  several  days  upon 
its  quarter-centenary.  I  was  never  more  deeply 
imprest.  I  saw  the  students  of  both  sexes  being 
taught  the  various  occupations.  Applicants  must 
oass  examination.  The  women  are  first  shown  their 
rooms,  and  instructed  for  a  few  days  how  scrupu 
lously  careful  they  must  be  to  keep  everything  in 
perfect  order,  and  in  the  performance  of  daily  duties. 
Extreme  attention  is  paid  to  personal  habits,  dress 
and  deportment.  Daily  bathing  and  gymnastic  ex 
ercizes  are  enforced.  Each  attends  to  her  own  room, 
and  is  taught  cooking,  baking,  dressmaking,  sewing 
and,  generally  speaking,  all  that  becomes  a  young 
educated  woman.  The  young  men  are  governed  with 
equal  care.  The  result  is  an  assembly  of  students, 
as  at  Hampton,  that  compare  not  unfavorably  with 
white  students  in  our  Northern  Universities. 

I  was  escorted  thru  the  Industrial  Schools,  where 
all  the  crafts  are  taught.  Asking  one  who  was  learn 
ing  to  be  a  tinsmith  how  long  he  had  been  there,  he 
replied,  "  Three  years,  Sir."  "  How  long  have  you 
yet  to  serve?"  "Two  more,  Sir."  "You  will  soon  be 
making  your  Four  Dollars  per  day."  "  I  expect  to 
make  more  than  that,  Sir,"  was  the  proud  reply.  The 
best  tinsmiths  make  Five  Dollars  (£l  Os  lOd)  per  day. 
He  was  ambitious,  and  expected  to  be  first  class. 

Asking  the  Superintendent  if  places  could  be 
found  for  all  graduates  in  the  crafts,  he  said  that  he 


37 

had  five  applications  for  every  graduate  he  could 
supply.  Coachbuilders,  masons,  bricklayers,  tin 
smiths,  blacksmiths  and  shoemakers  are  all  there, 
soon  to  be  earning  wages  very  much  higher  than  in 
Scotland.  Plenty  of  work  for  them,  for  the  Tuskegee 
and  Hampton  graduation  certificate  means  not  only 
a  competent  mechanic,  seamstress  or  cook,  but  a  self- 
respecting  man  or  woman.  There  is  no  objection  to 
negroes  being  craftsmen  thruout  the  South  because 
under  slavery  the  clever  slaves  did  all  such  work, 
white  craftsmen  being  few.  Manual  labor  was  only 
for  slaves.  Poor  whites  were  above  that  degradation. 
They  were  poor,  but  gentlemen — at  least  they  were 
white. 

A  traveling  agricultural  school,  consisting  of  a 
large  covered  wagon,  attracted  my  attention.  Such 
wagons  travel  the  region,  giving  negroes  needed 
lessons.  Here  were  displayed  large  photographic 
specimens  of  the  cotton  plant  and  of  maize  grown 
upon  soils  plowed  to  different  depths.  The  advan 
tages  of  deep  plowing  were  so  clearly  shown  that 
the  most  inert  farmer  could  not  rest  plowing  as 
shallow  as  before.  I  was  told  that  such  lessons  were 
promptly  taken  to  heart,  and  that  the  old  cry  " thirty 
acres  and  a  mule "  as  the  height  of  the  negro's 
ambition  is  now  "  thirty  acres  and  two  mules,"  so 
that  "  plow  deep  "  can  be  put  in  practice.  Tuskegee 
takes  deep  interest  in  agriculture,  and  is  rapidly 


38 

raising  standards,  thru  its  experimental  farm.  Its 
students  make  great  numbers  of  all  kinds  of  agri 
cultural  implements  and  wagons.  It  is  by  these  and 
kindred  wise  adaptations  that  Tuskegee  has  become 
a  great  educational  force  in  many  forms  outside  as 
inside  her  domain.  Numerous  are  her  off-shoots 
thruout  the  South — a  fruitful  brood. 

Tuskegee  has  developed  upon  lines  different 
from  Hampton  in  one  important  feature.  Here 
all  is  the  work  of  negroes,  the  Principal  and  Pro 
fessors,  and  even  the  architects  are  colored.  Hamp 
ton  employs  white  professors,  and  has  a  white  man  in 
charge.  The  total  number  of  scholars  at  Tuskegee, 
including  classes  outside,  was  last  year  1948,  1621 
being  students  regularly  enrolled.  All  but  about  one 
hundred  board  and  sleep  in  the  grounds.  Twenty- 
three  hundred  acres  of  land  surrounding  are  owned 
by  the  Institute  and  cultivated  by  the  students, 
part  being  an  experimental  farm. 

The  endowment  fund  amounts  to  $1,263,000,  the 
largest  by  far  of  any  colored  institution.  Mrs  Mary 
E.  Shaw,  a  colored  woman  of  New  York,  has  just  left 
all  her  money  to  it,  $38,000,  the  largest  gift  ever 
made  by  a  colored  woman.  Thirty-seven  different 
occupations  are  taught  in  the  "  Schools  of  Agri 
culture,"  "  Mechanical  Industries,"  and  "  Industries 
for  Girls"-— each  of  these  three  departments  has 
separate  buildings.  An  annual  negro  conference  is 


39 

held,  and  negro  farmers  and  others  come  from  all 
parts  of  the  South,  so  famous  have  these  meetings 
become.  Two  days'  sessions  are  now  required,  one 
for  farmers  and  one  for  teachers. 

The  choir  alone  is  worth  traveling  to  Tuskegee  to 
hear.  The  Main  Hall  is  large  and  vaulted,  the  stage 
ample,  acoustics  fine.  The  great  choir  of  more  than 
five  hundred  students  sat  back  of  the  speakers,  who 
occupied  the  front  of  the  stage.  I  was  not  prepared 
for  such  enchanting  strains  as  burst  upon  us  from  un 
seen  singers.  The  music  was  sacred,  and  some  of  the 
finest  gems  were  sung.  I  have  heard  many  of  the  fine 
choirs  of  the  world,  in  the  Crystal  Palace,  St  James's 
Hall,  Home,  Dresden,  Paris,  New  York,  and  elsewhere; 
seldom  do  I  miss  an  oratorio  if  I  can  help  it,  but 
never  in  my  life  did  choral  music  affect  me  as  at 
Tuskegee.  Even  the  Russian  choir  in  St  Petersburg 
I  must  rank  second.  The  pure  negro  voice  is  unique. 
The  organ  fortunately  was  very  small.  One  felt  there 
was  some  ground  for  preferring  the  human  voice  for 
praise,  for  even  the  finest  organ  lacks  something 
when  negro  voices  swell. 

Booker  Washington  is  the  combined  Moses  and 
Joshua  of  his  people.  i^ot  only  has  he  led  them  to 
the  promised  land,  but  still  lives  to  teach  them  by 
example  and  precept  how  properly  to  enjoy  it.  He 
is  one  of  these  extraordinary  men  who  rise  at  rare 
intervals  and  work  miracles.  Born  a  slave,  he  is  to- 


40 

day  the  acknowledged  leader  of  his  race — a  modest, 
gentlemanly  man,  of  pure,  simple  life  and  engaging 
qualities,  supremely  wise,  an  orator,  organiser  and 
administrator  combined.  Considering  what  he  was 
and  what  he  is,  and  what  he  has  already  accomplisht, 
the  point  he  started  from  and  the  commanding  posi 
tion  attained,  he  certainly  is  one  of  the  most  wonder 
ful  men  living  or  who  has  ever  lived.  History  is  to 
tell  of  two  Washingtons,  the  white  and  the  black, 
one  the  father  of  his  country,  the  other  the  leader  of 
his  race.  I  commend  to  you  his  autobiography, 
11  Up  from  Slavery,"  as  companion  to  "  The  Life  of 
General  Armstrong." 

"  There  were  giants  in  those  days,"  we  are  apt 
to  exclaim,  and  lament  their  absence  in  our  own  age, 
but  this  arises  from  our  failure  to  recognize  the 
gigantic  proportions  of  some  of  our  contemporaries. 
To-day  is  a  King  in  disguise,  Carlyle  tells  us.  Hence 
our  Kings  pass  unnoticed  until  viewed  in  their  proper 
perspective  by  one  who  has  the  gift  to  see  and  reveal 
the  true  heroes  to  the  masses.  Future  ages  are  to 
recognize  our  contemporary,  Booker  Washington,  the 
slave,  as  a  giant,  distinguishing  the  age  he  lived  in, 
and  General  Armstrong,  the  pioneer,  as  another  who 
can  never  be  forgotten  in  the  history  of  the  negro 
race.  He  will  grow  as  he  recedes.  These  men  of 
our  own  day  are  hereafter  to  be  canonized  as  true 
heroes  of  civilization,  whose  life-work  was  neither 


41 

to    kill    nor    maim,    but    to    serve    or    save    their 
fellows. 

In  the  task  of  elevating  the  negro,  the  part  played 
by  the  Northern  people,  from  the  inception  of  the 
Hampton  School  idea  to  the  present  day,  has  been 
great.  Not  only  have  many  millions  of  dollars  been 
contributed,  but  many  earnest  men  have  given,  and 
are  still  giving  their  personal  services,  giving  not 
money  only,  but  themselves  to  the  cause.  Among 
these  there  is  one  who  deserves  special  recognition, 
Kobert  C.  Ogden,  of  New  York,  than  whom  none  was 
closer  to  General  Armstrong  from  first  to  last,  and 
who  still  serves  as  Chairman  of  the  Southern  Educa 
tion  Board.  It  is  only  just  that  the  North  should 
co-operate  with  the  South  in  the  great  task,  for  it  is 
equally  responsible  for  slavery. 

Lest  you  separate,  holding  the  view  that  there 
remains  little  more  to  be  accomplisht  in  the  negro 
problem,  let  me  say  that  all  that  has  been  done, 
encouraging  as  it  undoubtedly  is,  yet  is  trifling  com 
pared  with  what  remains  to  be  done. 

The  advanced  few  are  only  the  leaders  of  the  vast 
multitude  that  are  still  to  be  stimulated  to  move 
forward.  Nor  are  the  leaders  themselves,  with 
certain  exceptions,  all  that  it  is  hoped  they  are  yet 
to  become. 

When  you  are  told  of  the  number  owning  land 
or  attending  schools,  or  of  the  millions  of  Church 


42 

members,  and  the  amount  of  wealth  and  of  land 
possest  by  the  negro,  pray  remember  that  they 
number  ten  millions,  scattered  over  an  area  nearly 
half  as  great  as  Europe. 

The  bright  spots  have  been  brought  to  your 
notice,  but  these  are  only  small  points  surrounded  by 
great  areas  of  darkness.  True,  the  stars  are  shining 
in  the  sky  thru  the  darkness,  but  the  sun  spreading 
light  over  all  has  not  yet  arisen,  altho  there  are  not 
wanting  convincing  proofs  that  her  morning  beams 
begin  to  gild  the  mountain  tops. 

All  the  signs  are  encouraging,  never  so  much  so 
as  to-day.  One  is  quite  justified  in  being  sanguine 
that  the  result  is  to  be  a  respectable,  educated,  intelli 
gent  race  of  colored  citizens,  increasing  in  numbers, 
possest  of  all  civil  rights,  and  who  in  return  will  by 
honest  labor  remain  notably  the  chief  factor  in  giving 
the  world  among  other  things  its  indispensable  sup 
ply  of  cotton  and,  to  no  inconsiderable  extent,  of  the 
products  of  cotton,  while  individual  members  gifted 
beyond  the  mass  will  worthily  fill  places  in  all  the 
professions.  Nor  will  the  race  fail  to  be  distinguish  t 
from  time  to  time  in  the  future  as  in  the  past  by 
the  advent  of  great  men,  fit  successors  of  Frederick 
Douglas  and  Booker  Washington. 

The  Republic  has  its  problems, — fortunately  so,— 
without  new  problems   there  would   be   stagnation ; 
but,  as  in  the  past,  so  in  the  future  she  will  surmount 


43 

all  that  now  exist  and  any  that  may  come.  Our  race 
has  never  failed  so  far.  One  of  the  most  serious  of 
the  problems  of  the  Republic  in  this  generation  has 
been  that  of  the  negro,  now,  as  I  hope  I  have  shown, 
slowly  but  surely  marching  to  satisfactory  solution. 

What  is  to  be  the  final  result  of  the  white  and 
black  races  living  together  in  centuries  to  come  need 
not  concern  us.  They  may  remain  separate  and 
apart  as  now  or  may  intermingle.  That  lies  upon 
the  "lap  of  the  gods."  That  they  will  henceforth 
dwell  in  peace,  co-operating  more  and  more  as 
patriotic  citizens  of  the  Republic,  is,  I  believe,  already 
assured.  I  believe  also  that  the  negro  is  to  continue 
to  ascend  morally,  educationally,  and  financially.  I 
am  quite  resigned  to  our  own  and  the  negro  races 
occupying  the  South  together,  confident  that  as  time 
passes  the  two  will  view  each  other  with  increasing 
regard,  and  more  and  more  realize  that,  destined  as 
they  are  to  dwell  together,  it  is  advantageous  for 
both  that  they  live  in  harmony  as  good  neighbors 
and  labor  for  the  best  interests  of  their  common 
country. 

Meanwhile,  my  personal  experience  of  the  South, 
small  as  it  is  compared  with  that  of  many  Northern 
men  who  have  been  from  the  first,  and  still  are,  leaders 
in  the  work  of  elevating  the  negro,  leads  me  to  en 
dorse  the  opinion  of  one  of  the  best -known  and  fore 
most  of  these,  the  Rev.  Lyman  Abbott,  Editor  of  the 


44 


"  Outlook,"  who  has  recently  declared  that  "  never  in 
the  history  of  man  has  a  race  made  such  educational 
and  material  progress  in  forty  years  as  the  American 
negro." 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 
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^f^BTteVJIf  5'  75                General  Librafy 

I^TB        rif)^                          University  of  California 

